Lawrence among Nassau's elite

The seeds for success for this year’s Lawrence boys’ volleyball team were planted last fall.

The Golden Tornadoes won 10 matches a season ago with a roster comprised of talented sophomores and freshmen.

Those players, many of whom play club ball and are on the volleyball court year-round, are a year older, and longtime coach George Klein has reaped the rewards.

“I knew last year when all these juniors were sophomores and Corey [Shakur] was a freshman,” said Klein, in his 35th season at the helm. “They were playing last year and we held our own with basically sophomores and freshmen. So I knew that this year we were going to be successful.

“To what degree? Well, that remains to be seen, but we're all really, really excited for the season as it has gone and in the future matches,” Klein added.

At the midway point of the regular season, Lawrence is 6-2, having won three straight following a five-set defeat to Roslyn.

That includes a thrilling five-set win at South Side Sept. 19.

“We're pretty solid at every position and the kids are really into it,” Klein said. “They’re really psyched, they worked hard in the off-season and they work hard in season.”

The strength of the team perhaps lies in the multiple weapons the Golden Tornadoes can deploy.

There’s four strong hitters in juniors Elijah Tolley, Jacob Hooks, senior Derrick Reyes and Shakur, a sophomore middle, with Hooks making the biggest strides from last year.

“He has improved tremendously and he works so hard on his game,” Klein said of Hooks, who had 18 kills in the win over the Cyclones. “He’s one of the top servers in the county. He's one of the top hitters in the county.”

And in junior Mailo Rozas, Klein believes he has “one of the top setters in the county.”

“He spreads the ball around really well, he's got excellent hands and he has a lot of volleyball smarts,” Klein said of Rozas who has 308 assists on the season, including 41 in that victory over South Side.

Senior Angel Vazquez, the team’s other middle hitter, is an excellent blocker and Fernando Larios and Sehil Dhoundiyal, who Klein calls an “excellent back row player” are solid junior liberos.

There’s also strong leadership provided by four-year varsity players Reyes and Chris Cornejo, who is like another coach.

“He takes the responsibility of being a captain very, very seriously,” Klein said of Cornejo. “He makes sure everybody's out there on time, at timeouts he and I go out to talk to the team and he gives some suggestions. He's so selfless.”

It’s been a strong first half to the regular season, with Lawrence beating Hewlett, New Hyde Park, Calhoun, Garden City, Valley Stream North and South Side, but the Golden Tornadoes are in a conference that has multiple teams contending for the top spot.

“I’m confident we can play with anyone in the county,” Klein said.